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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

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Chapter 11

Kate woke to a doctor
shaking her. Coming out of the deep
hypnotic state, she was drowsy and confused.
A man was talking to her. Several
people were in the room; security guards, people in scrubs and others in
suits. She tried to collect her thoughts
to figure out why she was surrounded by all these people. The security guards were watching her. The two men in suits appeared to be
arguing.

“What’s happening?” She asked.
No one answered. Everyone was
staring at her. She was trying to hear
what the two men in suits were saying.
“What’s happening?”

The doctor who was
shaking her announced to the others in the room: “She’s out of it. She’s awake now.”

One of the suits sat in
the chair beside her. He glanced at her
chart. “Ms. Pierson, can you tell me
what happened? What do you remember? I understand if you are a confused, you were hypnotized,
right?”

The other suit
interrupted. “Answer the question,” An
angered look on his face.

The angry suit shot a
glance at Ramona, “She’s one of yours?
She needs to answer the question.”

The nice suit was growing
tired of the angry suit’s accusing tone.
“If you will stop for a minute and let her wake up,” He turned to
Kate. “Ms. Pierson, do you remember what
happened?”

“No. I don’t know why all
of you are here.”

“You were
hypnotized.” Nice suit said.

“Yes, he wanted to know
about a dream I had.” She scanned the
room. “Where is he, Doctor Riley?”

The nice suit studied her
confusion. It seemed genuine. She had not noticed the window. He could tell her discomfort was from waking
suddenly being surrounded.

“What is the last thing
you remember about Doctor Riley?” Nice
suit asked in a soothing tone.

“He told me to relax; we
were in a safe place.” Kate
answered. “Where is he? Will somebody tell me what happened?”

“Dr. Riley killed himself
about fifteen minutes ago, apparently while you were under hypnosis.”

“What?” She went pale with fright.

“He jumped out that
window.” The nice suit pointed to an
empty window casing on the other side of the room. “I heard the glass breaking from my office
next door. I came in and found you
asleep on the couch. I went to the
window and saw Doctor Riley, well, I’m afraid he didn’t survive the fall.”

The number five flashed
in her mind, a large number five like the one she saw when she exited the
elevator on Doctor Riley’s floor. She
knew a jump from this height would surely kill someone. Everyone in the room was looking at her,
waiting for a reaction from her. Her complexion grew pale as she came to
realize what happened. Slight memories
tickled at her consciousness trying to come out of the darkness. She had conversations.

“They think you did
this.”

She noticed that no one
in the room spoke. Her eyes darted
wildly as the memories from the last two days came back to her, and the pieces
of conversation she had with Doctor Riley.
She started to worry.

The voice from nowhere
came again. “Stay calm, I will get you
through this.”

Chapter 12

“I don’t remember.” She answered to almost every question. The memories from the last two days were
screaming at her but she had no recollection of the hypnosis.

The nice suit, whom she
found out was a colleague of Doctor Riley’s, Doctor Steve Watson, helped her
cope with the events of the day. He,
along with Ramona, stayed by her side during the police questioning. Soon, they were the only ones left in the
room.

“Kate, I am going to put
you down for two weeks leave of absence.
You have plenty of vacation time left but I might be able to get this
time off with pay.” Ramona stated.

“I think, I, I don’t know
what has happened.” Kate added.

“You are stressed and
probably have a mild case of shock. I
agree. You need to take a couple of
weeks. If you want, I can make myself
available for you.” Doctor Watson
suggested.

“No, no more psych
exams.” Kate sounded scared.

“Honey, is there someone
you can call to take you home?” Ramona
asked.

“No.” Kate appeared on the verge of tears.

“Where do you live?” Doctor Watson asked.

“Sweetwater, behind the
north side post office.”

“Good, it’s close. Ramona, do I have your permission to take her
home? I will drive her car, drop her off
and catch a cab back here.”

“Sounds good to me,
thanks for doing that.”

“Not a problem. Can you walk to the car or should we get a
wheelchair?”

“I can make it. Thank you Doctor Watson.”

“Call me Steve.” He said as he scribbled on a prescription
pad. “Ramona can you call these in to
the pharmacy over on Springer
Street? I
will stop by and get them on the way to her house.”

Ramona looked at the
prescription. “Good idea, help her
rest. Take care Kate. If you feel like coming back early you call
me and we will talk about it okay?”